Highlights of India Today Hindi 20th October 2021, issue: Cover Story: Drugs

Heroin: Nashe Ki Giraft

From the poppy fields of southern Afghanistan to the streets of India, a surge in heroin shipments from the golden crescent region is exacerbating India’s existing drug problem.

Upfront: Mamata Banarjee

Ab Delhi Me Khela Hobe

At a street-corner meeting before the Bhabanipur by poll, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee proclaimed: A new ‘khela’ (game) has begun in Bhabanipur; it will end only when India has been won).” After the triumph in the Bengal assembly election, its sights are now set on Delhi. At the same meeting, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said it even more baldly: “You are not just voting for Didi; you are voting for change in Delhi.”

Upfront: Madhya Pradesh

Adivasi Taal Par

In recent months, a series of developments in Madhya Pradesh suggest that a new demographic—tribal voters—has risen to the top of the BJP’s ‘to woo’ list. In March, the state government invited President Ram Nath Kovind to participate in a Janjatiya Sammelan (tribal convention) at Damoh in north-eastern MP; on September 18, Union home minister Amit Shah travelled to Jabalpur to attend a function marking the 164th anniversary of the martyrdom of tribal heroes Shankar Shah and his son Raghunath in the 1857 uprising.

Upfront: Andhra Pradesh

Darwaje Par Sarkar

Every month, between the 1st and the 3rd, the Andhra Pradesh government pays out pensions to 6.1 million beneficiaries under the YSR Pension Kanuka, spending a staggering INR 1,420.5 crore. The pensions are delivered to beneficiaries wherever they might be, even those displaced from their homes. For transparent, well-targeted delivery of benefits, the state relies on biometric identification.